Packaging machines for forming, filling and sealing flexible pouches are known in the art, and are commonly employed in the packaging of food products, such as soups, vegetables, powdered ingredients, etc. These machines commonly feed a continuous web of flat, packaging material over a folding pan to longitudinally fold the web in half, and thereby define what ultimately will be the front and rear walls of the individual packages. Thereafter, the folded packaging material, having confronting thermoplastic surfaces, are heat sealed in longitudinally spaced-apart regions to define the side margins of the packages. The continuous web is then severed in approximately the center of each side seal to form discrete, open-mouth pouches which are thereafter filled, sealed and thereafter removed from the machine.
Machines of the above-described type generally are adjustable to permit flexible pouches of different widths to be formed thereon. In order to permit pouches of different widths to be formed the machines are designed with an adjustable cutter for severing discrete pouches from the continuous web,and also with adjustable feed rolls for directing the continuous web past the cutter. In certain machines the speed of the feed rolls must be independently set, as a separate step, each time its position is adjusted perparatory to changing the size of the pouches to be formed. Employing a machine which requires separate adjustment of the speed of the feed rolls independently of adjusting the position of the cutter and/or feed rolls can be a time-consuming operation, and in any event, is less desirable than employing a machine wherein the speed of the feed rolls automatically is properly set by the mere act of properly positioning the cutter and feed rolls.
Certain prior art packaging machines for forming and filling flexible pouches are undesirably large; taking up an excessive amount of plant space. Moreover, designing the machine so that it occupies a large area may require the use of extra operators to run it; a factor which may increase manufacturing cost of products packaged on the machine.
Certain prior part packaging machines are quite complex in design and operation. These machines tend to be quite expensive to manufacture, and sometimes unreliable in operation.
The packaging machine of the present invention overcomes the above-described deficiencies associated with prior art packaging machines, and does so in a unique manner.